July 5, 2016

"Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before deciding whether to bring charges."

Per Hot Air: "Update: 110 e-mails had classified information at the time the messages were sent — eight of which were top-secret or higher. The FBI also found “several thousand” work-related e-mails that Hillary had not turned over to State. Huge."

That's all very true about prosecutorial discretion, but good luck convincing people that the fact of who Hillary is didn't have some effect on tipping the scales against prosecution.

If this is their conclusion, though, so much for one of the GOP "hail marys" for this year. But if they can find some link between Lynch (or other Obama admin official) influence and the FBI recommendation, the GOP might have something to go on here.

Perhaps they are trying to trigger someone in order to save the Clinton campaign from democratic losses.

As for "we are now..."... Well, there has been a State-established Pro-Choice (i.e. selective morality, ethics, law, inclusion, rights) Church for some time. The Democrats can literally get away with the [class] diversity, the "final solution", and channeling Mengele for votes and profit.

Nixon is owed an apology and an exoneration. Silly me to think there was some level of integrity in the government; its obvious now the fix was in from the beginning. And it also looks that I was right, the FBI found it would have to refer most of the senior government officials including Obama. The Democrat Party now officially represents one of its core constituencies, criminals and traitors.

Whether you're a presidential candidate or a peon on the assembly line the law should be applied equally. This is an outrage, yet to be expected. Why are people fed up with the "establishment", you ask.

Ann in this case I can't agree that ignoring illegal acts is okay because it's politics.

And yet your doctor can go to jail if he can't pay millions in fines for HIPAA violations. And other people can go to jail for any number of lesser violations. This nation is no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of men. Does there exist anywhere in this world a country of free men ruled by law equally applied to all? I'd like to know so I can move there.

We've been hearing about the lack of intent and willfull violation, by Clinton, of the law for quite sometime now from many legal people. Intent was the crucial factor as many criminal law experts have said. Your dissapointment would not be so sharp today if you hadn't disregarded experts who said this is how it would go down. I guess keeping hope alive is a human trait. Now soon, today probably, we'll be hearing allegations against Comey.

Intention!? The law doesn't require intention, merely negligence. Comey laid out the case in detail as to why Hillary broke the law multiple times, yet no charges. Today is the day America died, ironically on the day after we celebrated its independence.

There was plenty of time for the Democrats to nominate and campaign for a less compromised candidate.Not that that will do anything about the actual state of corruption. I don't see why a prosecution referral followed by her withdrawal would be worse for public confidence in government and elections than this.

The Clinton Crime Family will be shoved down our throats. Trump more than likely agreed to help. Just look at his stumbles. yeah - no one should care about a star of David star, (that means nothing) but all it took to destroy Romney was a binder full of women. After 2 years on Clinton back in the White House, Trump will be pals again.

The media will now turn on Trump like never before and pimp Hillary like never before.

"I wouldn't have liked to see a criminal law proceeding skewing and meddling with the political process now that it's so far along" is sort of like hockey or basketball referees letting all penalties or fouls go near the end of games so as not to "interfere with the outcome." Letting the penalties/fouls go DOES interfere with the outcome.

As with Obamacare, small government types can't expect the legal system to bail them out of political problems. We have to win arguments and win elections. The record is clear as to what Clinton did. It should disqualify her from holding a high office of trust and contidence. The problem is not that what she did was illegal. The problem is that what she did is totally irresponsible. Time to win an election.

"Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before deciding whether to bring charges."

Originally, there was an issue over the secure system, and the totally separate home brew system, and how someone could get top secret emails from one system into the other, since the secure system was closed. In other words, some person had to actually take a secure message, strip out the classification headers, and then re-enter than email manually into the home-based email system in order to send it on HRC's Frankenstein server. So, that person deliberately and obvious broke the law, despite what Comey said, in an intentional act. Accordng to what we have been told so far, the secure system has no links to any other outside system, and there is no way to send data from the secure system without transcribing it manually or perhaps, scanning a printed piece of paper.

So, why not charge that person even if there is insufficient weight of classified material to justify charging HRC?

This was ignored in Comey's speech.

But we all knew the fix was in I think, unless they actually had a video of HRC committing some act of violence on Carlos Danger, and the video got leaked to Fox News.

Clinton’s reply to Abedin’s get-a-State-account email was to offer to get a “separate address or device but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible.”

Clinton has admitted to destroying “private personal emails” as secretary of state. But Abedin’s admission that she used so-called “burn bags” — a container that material is placed in before it is destroyed — for some of her schedules is the first time anyone close to her has disclosed destroying public records.

Whew! That was close, I almost thought she broke the below law!

Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.(b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Beyond Clinton, there are 10 others in her circle that committed major felonies, and every F'ing one of them is going to keep their clearances and get promotions to positions of higher trust in the next administration. Because they are faithful to the Clinton Crime Family rather than to there Oath and the Constitution.

Althouse, regardless of where this sits in the political cycle, it is hugely and permanently destructive of the rule of law as we used to know it.

I read the transcript of Comey's announcement, and it is damning to Clinton even without a referral for indictment, but it won't matter- her non-indictment will be sung as a clean bill of ethics and judgment by every new outlet except Drudge and FoxNews.

Had a civil service employee of State deliberately employed a private server with these lapses, he would be in jail right now offering to cop a plea for leniency.

Comey said it was all true and even added some particulars we had not heard about before, but it is not enough to file criminal charges against the Democrat candidate for president, currently out on the trail campaigning with the sitting President.

But it is not over until it is over.It is a political problem that needs to be taken care of at the ballot box.

I side with conservative critics of Mrs. Clinton, like former Assistant U.S. attorney Andy McCarthy.

What I do not understand is Trump's bumbling and inane criticism; that "the system is rigged." What does that even mean? That FBI Director Comey has been corrupted? That the Bureau was bribed or influenced? What is the problem with "the system"? Which "system"?

The moment Biden decided not to run, the situation was already decided. There was no way an indictment was ever going to happen. We are living in a new political environment, where regulatory agencies can be used against the party not in power and those in the administration are above any accountability.

The lies, the shakedowns, there is nothing that will ever stick to Hillary. The fourth estate is now complicit in protecting their candidate. It's like a lesser version of Chavez and Erdogan. Get elected and slowly scratch away at opposition rights.

Yes Chuck, it's rigged. Hillary and the Foundation is so corrupt, so entertwined with so many parts of Govt, that breaking it open would be the biggest crisis DC has ever seen.

The fact that you're willfully blind to how close this country is to disaster just lowers your clout even further. You really have no idea how bad it is. I'm sure they're letting her off the hook for an insecure server with Top Secret and SAP programs on it because she didn't really do anything.

There's no corruption in Govt at all. It doesn't get worse over time as Empires corrode and fail, as history teaches us. Bless your little heart, Chuck.

Packer Bronco - take a bow. I'm appalled that any law prof could write such a sentence. Still let's look on the bright side, this means we can all go and shoot up the places where NTY and WaPo readers gather, and although we might be reprimanded for being a little careless with our handling of weapons, after a little Netjet based plea bargainng, nothing will come of it.

@Althouse, you asked how I felt about this. I feel that your profession is null and void, Professor, because we have ceased to be a nation where no person is above the law. Why would you bother to teach law when who you are is more important than what you did?

How do you feel about this? I'm relieved. I wouldn't have liked to see a criminal law proceeding skewing and meddling with the political process now that it's so far along.

So much for "equal justice under the law". It has always been a pretty lie that the powerful as held to the same legal standards as the rest of us. I've worked with classified information for decades. Why should I obey the law when it's obvious she didn't? I'll obey the law because I know I would lose my clearance, my job, and probably my freedom should I don't.

It's bullshit, of course, but fully expected. In case there ever was any doubt, we're now officially a banana republic.

I feel like, combined with the IRS targeting the right and various other political shakedowns, that it is actually stupid to openly declare one to be a Republican. We get different rules, and the people who would act against us are given different rules.

If I hadn't been using my own name to write things for years, I'd just tell people I'm a Democrat so I can benefit from the way the rules work now.

The FBI will do what it thinks is good for the FBI, which reasonably enough does not include filing criminal charges against a candidate they think will be elected the next President of the United States even if out on bail at election time.

Original Mike said...Althouse said..."I wouldn't have liked to see a criminal law proceeding skewing and meddling with the political process now that it's so far along."

Scott M replied..."And that's exactly what Hillary! was counting on."

You've been played, Althouse.

Doesn't the idea of "being played" include some element the outcome is against interest or principle? It's hardly surprising a law professor isn't concerned about legal double standards: that's a middle class concern.

"I wouldn't have liked to see a criminal law proceeding skewing and meddling with the political process now that it's so far along."

I don't really see how you go from Trump cheerleader to this--particularly since this statement is so completely indefensible. There is NEVER a bad time to see justice served--should we decide simply that prosecution should never be brought against someone who is running for high office? Or when they win high office? If that's a problem, then it's a problem for the candidate who broke the law and the supporters who decided to support that candidate anyway. Why should our justice system be perverted because it's too tricky to go after the powerful?

If DOJ has a good reason to not prosecute (e.g., the likelihood of getting a conviction, the nature of the crime) then that's one thing. But the very idea that some people should be free from prosecution simply because of who they are is so un-American I can't believe you wrote that.

Oops, I forget. Hillary is certified blameless now in all things. I am voting for her! This is the thing that changed my mind. I have put away childish things like three cornered hats, equality before the law, etc, etc. Grownups like, me, shiloh, and Unknown only care about will to power.

I think what Comey said, at least implicitly, is that there is enough evidence to bring charges, but no charges should be brought because prosecutors consider other things, in addition to the state of the evidence in deciding whether to proceed. He didn't say what those other consideration are in this case.

not surprised. the fix was in from the beginning. There is no rule of law in this country anymore. What laws do exist are for the peons of this country, not elites, not Democrats and especially not Clintons.

I know, right? Trump could never be smart enough to unleash a wave of refugees on Europe and cause the EU crisis that lead to the Brexit! No. Trump would have said. "OK, Iraq didn't work, so let's stop doing it!"

But Hillary is very smart. She figured out that overthrowing the closest thing we had to a friend in the ME, Qaddaffy and exacerbating the civil war in Syria were brilliant strategic moves. I know it is hard to believe, but that very difficulty is what proves her strength of mind. She can overcome stuff like that through sheer willpower!

Chuck said...I side with conservative critics of Mrs. Clinton, like former Assistant U.S. attorney Andy McCarthy.

What I do not understand is Trump's bumbling and inane criticism; that "the system is rigged." What does that even mean? That FBI Director Comey has been corrupted? That the Bureau was bribed or influenced? What is the problem with "the system"? Which "system"?

"The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014. We found those additional e-mails in a variety of ways. Some had been deleted over the years and we found traces of them on devices that supported or were connected to the private e-mail domain. Others we found by reviewing the archived government e-mail accounts of people who had been government employees at the same time as Secretary Clinton, including high-ranking officials at other agencies, people with whom a Secretary of State might naturally correspond."

-- Hiding documents from the government is no longer a crime if they can find it in other ways. Normally, that would be proof you did something wrong. Guess not any more.

Until today, I thought some of you were overly cynical. Not anymore, me and my old pal shiloh are on the side of power! Might makes right! Trial by political combat! Into the lists everyone! Let's drag the hag across the finish line!

To all you people who don't like Trump, consider this - for the most part, Trump, for the most part, will leave us the hell alone. A Dem president typically will be in our faces and in our lives 247/ 365.

OK, so if the FBI recommended charges be filed, the DoJ duly did, and Hillary! is arrested, fingerprinted, and released on bail.Then she gets elected President of the United States in November and inaugurated in January.

This hurts her. There is a wave of populist rage that will only be further inflamed by this obvious example that the fix is in. Bill and Loretta in a secret meeting? Hussein and Hillary together in solidarity? Followed by this?

I have held a Secret clearance myself (though it's been years), and I have close friends and relatives who hold or who have held top secret clearances. Comey's statement was just silly -- criminal charges have been brought and successfully prosecuted for far less 'recklessness' than this. The damage of this decision is going to be enormous.

"The lawyers doing the sorting for Secretary Clinton in 2014 did not individually read the content of all of her e-mails, as we did for those available to us; instead, they relied on header information and used search terms to try to find all work-related e-mails among the reportedly more than 60,000 total e-mails remaining on Secretary Clinton’s personal system in 2014. It is highly likely their search terms missed some work-related e-mails, and that we later found them, for example, in the mailboxes of other officials or in the slack space of a server."

-- Remember when this started and they said that they made no mistakes? Great, huh?

Hillary can't be indicted because the Federal Govt is Democrat and is totally embedded and complicit in her corruption.

Voting for the Dems is voting for your own enslavement. You saw the undeniable proof today. It's that bloody simple. All of the fear-mongering against Trump is horseshit. He'll have the whole Democrat Govt against him. He'll have a Hell of a time doing anything.

Are we going to attempt to expose and cut out the rot, or are we going to bend the knee and allow the chains to be fastened on our necks?

Comey said that Hillary was "extremely careless" in handling classified information. "Extremely careless" is not a legal term of art, but it's an ordinary language equivalent of gross negligence. So Hillary committed a crime.

"Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked “classified” in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it."

"What I do not understand is Trump's bumbling and inane criticism; that "the system is rigged." What does that even mean? That FBI Director Comey has been corrupted? That the Bureau was bribed or influenced? What is the problem with "the system"? Which "system"?"

All of it. Every Federal department at every level in any matter of policy whatsoever. That should be simple enough. The US has one of the most corrupt governing structures on Earth, if not the most, if seen in terms of monetary value.

Of course Comey is corrupted. Of course the FBI is influenced. They are bureaucrats in a bureaucracy, with careers, at least, to consider. Then there is post-career employment and family benefit considerations, employment of children and relatives, etc.

I am celebrating our new one party state. Now all that remains is to get the courts to change the state laws to get rid of the red state Republicans. They seriously have to go before we can finish our project!

"I feel like, combined with the IRS targeting the right and various other political shakedowns, that it is actually stupid to openly declare one to be a Republican. We get different rules, and the people who would act against us are given different rules.

If I hadn't been using my own name to write things for years, I'd just tell people I'm a Democrat so I can benefit from the way the rules work now.

Some animals are more equal than others."

Except when they become victims of terrorists and an increasingly likely future nuclear attack in the US.

For the first time in my life, I'm genuinely scared about what's going to happen over the next few years. With the expansion of executive power, the complete subversion of the law, the submission of the media, and the submission of any real opposition in Congress and the Senate (I expect that the GOP will at least lose the Senate majority in November), we'll effectively have an autocrat in Hillary Clinton. The economic destruction she'll be able to reap could be astronomical, not to mention the insane level of bribery and graft and the selling off of our military to the highest bidder, the complete and shameless persecution of any opposition by the IRS... this is going to get bad.

"To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now."

-- Here's the deciding factor: Is this person powerful? If yes, then no sanctions. If no, then yes sanctions.

Althouse -- I wouldn't have liked seeing a criminal proceeding in the midst of a campaign, but it's far worse that such obvious and serious criminal behavior will go unpunished. The public has less trust in our justice system than at any time in living memory. We shouldn't add to the (earned) perception that the well-connected live by different rules than the rest of us. The Clinton's are the poster-children of the attitude that laws are for the little people. This was a chance to change that narrative by doing the right thing -- neutrally enforce the law.

Clinton forced the potential for criminal proceedings in the midst of a campaign onto the country. Had she been honest and forthcoming when her email server came to light, it's likely she wouldn't be the nominee. Instead, she lied to the public and destroyed public records (and likely destroyed evidence of her criminal behavior). Her lies shouldn't now be rewarded by making her off limits for prosecution because we're too close to an election!

A little over forty years ago the FBI had sufficient enough integrity to bring down Nixon through its mouth pieces at the WaPo. Who would've thought back then there was more integrity in government back then than there is today in and that now this Administration is indisputably the most corrupt Administration in the last hundred years?

Of course there is a sanction in the law, but it doesn't apply to Hillary losers!

or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.

Just like you probably thought that sexual harassment laws, or laws against rape, for example, applied to powerful Democrats!

Losers! We are marching to victory! You guys will never understand the power and the glory of being a Democrat! Plus we go straight to heaven, no waiting! Just like the first class lines at the airport!

"I wouldn't have liked to see a criminal law proceeding skewing and meddling with the political process now that it's so far along."

Well then politicians seeking high office should avoid flagrantly breaking the law. It's that goddamn simple. Of course, the Clintons are masters are delaying and distracting - deleting emails, hiding records - until things are "too far along" - and then "what difference does it make anyway?". I wish I could say I am surprised, but I am nonetheless furious. I had a security clearance (not nearly as high as HRC's) so I could see NATO battle plans for the use of nuclear demolition munitions in Europe. I was proud to be entrusted with that clearance and I never took it lightly, even though I was just a 23 year old NCO.

Never mind the message it sends to every NCO and junior officer (or even four star general) who has lost a career, or freedom, over much less egregious mishandling of classified information. Either HRC is too criminal to be POTUS or she's too damned senile. There is no third choice.

I guess Kurt Schlichter, former Army Colonel and current litigator, called it. Check out his latest column:

You Owe Them Nothing - Not Respect, Not Loyalty, Not Obedience

Sometimes in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. It is high time to declare our personal independence from any remnant of obligation to those who have spit upon the rule of law. We owe them nothing - not respect, not loyalty, not obedience.

He won't. Because the rot is there too. See my previous post about the law permitting the re-stating of private pension liabilities/funding. That was bi-partisan. That's just a small example. Dig, and you will find. I did, and its just me, an amateur, in an hour.

from Comey's speech:"To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now."

What would those be? Loss of security clearance seems one likely sanction.Would never again be considered for promotion?Fired?

Hillary will face no consequences from anyone with the possible exception of the voters.

I have decided to become a pro Hillary troll. It's more fun to be on the winning side of this stuff! Keep hope alive losers! It's over! FBI, Justice, IRS, everybody says so. If you are still stupid enough to register as a Republican, or fail to send a donation to the Democratic Party, shame on you.

Only a hillbilly cares about childish things like the bourgeois concepts of "rule of law." I have read Also Spracth Zarathustra, I know how this works. Will to power! Hillary is Superman, we are just men, and we better join!